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There was just enough evidence to make it stick, Haruko thought as she confirmed her information. Alone again in the apartment, she was finishing up her report on the recent incident.

The man whom [Ren] had cornered had been put under arrest on illegal firearms possession charges, a moderate offence under Japanese law. In the process, Kokuto had found their suspect had a previous history of stalking female students. Reports had been made previously, despite never reaching a conviction. By combining the two unrelated offences, things were easier for his prosecution.

She saved the report, and then paused to focus on an object on her desk.

It was the tracing chip [Ren] had given to her. As the man was now incarcerated, there was no point in leaving the device on. Haruko once again regarded it, the almost insignificant dot hiding under artificialscar tissue. Indeed, the bulk of the device was made of fake skin. The Johohonbu and other intelligence agencies worldwide would make fake hair, scars or even teeth to mask the tiny tracing chip underneath. A chip that was smaller than a grain of sand, yet contained gigabytes of processing and transmitting power.

IS technology goes into things like this too, Haruko mused. Not long ago, a tracking device half a centimetre long would only transmit for a week at most. Even then it was unreliable and stood out like a sore thumb, making long-term surveillance difficult. Thus even with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment possible, people on foot were still needed to track individuals under observation. It simply was not possible to make a smaller tracing device. Data quantization, a technology developed alongside the Infinite Stratos, was the solution. The advent of this technology made much smaller instruments practical, if restricted to intelligence agencies.

It wasn’t the device or its use that bothered Kokuto. Rather, it was [Ren]’s unwillingness to share information about the matter. Haruko had no idea if it was an investigation or an abuse of the organization’s resources. She could find no recorded orders for tracing chips from Johohonbu HQ, or if [Ren] was keeping track of her targets. Nothing at all could be found on the computer they shared, which did not surprise Kokuto in the least.

The door opened and closed, prompting the analyst to watch [Ren] enter the apartment. The girl seemed to betray no emotion at all as she entered wordlessly, tossing her baseball cap and jacket aside as she dropped onto her bed.

Haruko kept her awkward silence for a moment. There were plenty of questions she needed to ask, but she was sure none of them would be answered. At least, not with a straight face.

“I’ve ordered a bunk bed.” Kokuto blurted out, the words falling clumsily from her lips. “You can’t make me sleep on the floor forever, you know.”

[Ren] did not seem to care. “Do whatever you want. It’s HQ’s money.”

“I want the bottom bunk.” Haruko paused only a second to wait, for a response that never came. She continued to explain her reasons, regardless of whether her partner cared to know. “And a proper table, too. You can’t expect me to eat or read at this tiny desk.”

[Ren] still gave no response. Haruko could see he girl’s eyes were open, even though she lay on the bed as if sleeping. She wondered if [Ren] slept like a snake did, with her eyes open the whole time. The analyst then tried another angle of conversation.

“About that guy you cornered? They managed to get the firearms charge to stick.”

“Spit it out.” [Ren] impatiently replied, suddenly sitting bolt upright on the bed. The eyes fixed onto Kokuto like a viper ready to strike. “What are you REALLY asking me?”

And there we have it. Kokuto bit her tongue, mainly to keep from speaking her immediate thoughts aloud. There weren’t many questions to ask, but she decided on the one that bothered her the most. “Orimura Ichika. Why are you so fixated on him?”

[Ren] did not respond, other than looking away. A few seconds passed before Haruko realised that it was an affirmative response.

“You’ve met him before, haven’t you?”

“Aren’t you a genius.” [Ren] still did not look at her. For the first time since they’d met, Haruko found her partner trying to avoid her gaze. Like how a snake avoided the gaze of one superior to it. “There are things you don’t need to know.”

“I’m supposed to be your support. I can’t support you if you’re not level with me.”

[Ren] took her time in answering. “You’re treading dangerous ground.”

“Bite me.” To the best of Haruko’s knowledge, they were not to make personal contact with Orimura in any way. The whole point of the assignment was to protect that individual from threats most people were blissfully unaware of. “When did you first meet him?”

“Long before I joined the Johohonbu.” [Ren] responded, still avoiding Kokuto’s gaze.

I am SO not liking where this is going. The ground at Kokuto’s feet felt like it was crumbling as fast as her career aspirations. “There’s more to it than that, right?”

“You don’t need to know.” [Ren] swivelled to lock eyes. Haruko did not flinch, despite the cold gaze that chilled her bones.

“I think I have a right to know.” Kokuto reiterated, oddly confident in her speech. “How far back did you know Orimura?”

“Shut up.”

Before Haruko could push further, [Ren] leapt off the bed and stalked off. She was out of the apartment in seconds, again leaving Kokuto hanging.

Congratulations. Haruko felt a migraine fast approaching. [Ren] tended to disappear for hours at a time without explanation. Quite often it was after Kokuto had already gone to sleep. Here’s hoping she doesn’t stab me to death when she gets home.

It was then she remembered the tracing chip on the desk.

Taking out her own mobile phone, Haruko began to smile as a plan formed in her head.

Tatenashi's daughter: *Shows the 55 text messages and sack of love letters, and another sack of gifts* this much.

Tatenashi: I remember the last time I had boys gushing over me.

Tatenashi's daughter: But I thought you were too busy training during your childhood?

Tatenashi: *snaps open a fan with the word "lady" on it* My charms are very powerful little one. Men flock to me even when I hide fufufufufu!

Tatenashi's daughter: Just as expected of mother.

Tatenashi: You must really take after you father though, you're going through the trouble of answering each and every one of those males personally.

Tatenashi's daughter: You could say that.

Tatenashi: I remember in the past where I would get the butlers to copy 1000 rejection letters. Writing them all by hand the first few times was trying.

Tatenashi's daughter: I don't think you should abuse the helpers like that mother. *looks disapprovingly* Still, it's such a waste to just deny them outright.

Tatenashi: Well if I didn't maybe I wouldn't have gotten together with your father. Maybe I would have settled for a nice young man who was not even half as dense as him.

Tatenashi's daughter: But you love him all the same right?

Tatenashi: Ofcourse~♥ By the way, that's pretty long for a rejection

Tatenashi's daughter: That's because it's not~♥

Tatenashi: *reads the letter just written* "I'm sorry, I can't go out with you because of this boy. He forced me to be his girlfriend and told me to meet him this sunday at Koyama amusement park. Please come and help me!" *reads another letter* "I want to say yes, but I have a stalker lately, he says he's been taking illicit photos of me. He told me to meet him in Koyama amusent park this sunday if I wanted them back. Please help me." *she rips the letters in two* How many did you write?

@ Senpai - Aren't there scenes where he's not wearing it? It'd be impractical if he wore it to take a bath. Charlotte didn't have her necklace on her when she came out of the shower either.

No such luck, because there's no Ichika furo scene

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eratas123

Side note - Feminist side assumed he was a pushover since he has no gear and looks frail. That had larger consequences

Pah, they must face Maya and Tate before anything, and that's if we don't count Karon and Laura later...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eratas123

Side note 2 - What else was he supposed to do? Maya and Tatenashi refused to give him meds when he asked and he can't leave ISQ by himself. He was stuck.

Indeed he was struck, if he don't tell the truth he's screwed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eratas123

=Eratas123;3939453]
Side note 3 - Really? A lot of people thought the Houki end was a cop out and was hoping for either Laura or Charlotte to win.

Because I.S. matured with laura and Charles, less development is not put into Houki until it''s too late. Yes. (seriously, all three heroine introduced in the same freaking volume, then two, then one per heroine. Well Tate has 1.5 XD)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eratas123

Side note 4 - It's just for laughs. They even come back later and try to explore again, vut they can't find the entrance. They check all over and it loked like the cavern never existed......

"You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album.
...But you can be bad at playing a videogame, and the game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the videogame."